Quotes and notes as Sharks move within one win of next round with 6-3 victory over Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — One for the road as the Sharks head home with the chance to advance to the second round Saturday night at HP Pavilion.

First, Ryane Clowe’s seven post-season points tie him with Montreal’s Mike Cammalleri for second in the NHL, one behind Anaheim’s Corey Perry.

Second, here’s the quote sheet provided by the Kings media crew after tonight’s 6-3 Sharks victory that saw San Jose look a lot more like the team that finished the regular season with the NHL’s best record since Jan. 15.

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Oh, and note the emphasis Kings coach Terry Murray put on Scott Nichol’s ability to take Drew Doughty off the ice with a matching penalty. San Jose got its first two goals with Doughty still in the box:

SAN JOSE HEAD COACH TODD MCLELLAN:
(Game recap): “I think we each scored one on our own net tonight. It’s that time of year where strange plays happen. The more that you get the puck to the net the better opportunity you have for that strange play going your way.”

(12 goals in two games): “We had to earn them though. They’re a very good hockey club, they play very hard and very well defensively so we had to earn them. More importantly it’s two wins. They played obviously very well in game two. We had to straighten our game out a little bit…But we still have to improve, they’re going to come back and play very well. They’ve got a lot of pride and are a very good hockey club.”

(Playoff experience): “Over the last times you see that come out a little more. Poise and composure tonight, coming out for the third period, getting through the second period when they were coming back. That adds up a little bit and maybe that does give you a little bit of an advantage, but again, only if you use it.”

SAN JOSE FORWARD JOE THORNTON:
(Game recap): “They’re going to fight and they’re going to claw. The close out games are always the toughest so we have to really be ready and take this win and enjoy it for tonight but get back to work tomorrow.”

(Quick): “We always want to get traffic in front of him, you never know what can happen with traffic. But he’s an incredible goalie and we definitely have to work for our goals right now.”

KINGS HEAD COACH TERRY MURRAY:
(Game recap): “They scored two goals on a four-on-four but up to that point it was a pretty good game. We killed off a five-on-three; we killed off a double minor, that’s a pretty good game. Give Nichol credit, he’s the reason that they won tonight.”

“I really liked our competition to make it a 3-2 game. And then whatever happened in the third with giveaways, turnovers, lost face offs- that’s sometimes a hard thing to explain.”

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(Pulling Quick?): “There was no consideration to pulling Quick. Sometimes a goalie has to play through it. It’s his game and he’s got to work his way through it. You look at the goals and they weren’t the goalie’s fault. Changing the goalie sends the wrong message to the team, everyone is in this together.”

(Emotions of the game): “I thought our emotions were under control. I think the Sharks lost their composure at the end.”

KINGS DEFENSEMAN JACK JOHNSON:
(Next game): “Try to keep them from scoring six goals a game. They’ve scored 12 goals in two games. That’s embarrassing. We have to pack up, get to San Jose and go there to win a hockey game. Our backs are against a wall. They’re a tough team to play and right now they’re playing with a lot of confidence. But we should be a tough team to play against because there’s no tomorrow for us. If we lose it’s the season so we have to go there to win a hockey game and expect nothing else.”

(Tuesday’s loss): “It’s terrible but in playoffs when a game’s over you start the next game with a clean slate. That’s just the way it is, win or lose, each game is a new game and a new beginning. There’s no momentum carried over because each game means so much. You start clean each game. We’re going to go there and try to win a game and come home and try to win another game and get this to game seven.”

(What needs to be worked on): “Stop them from scoring six goals a game. We’re not going to win a game if they score six goals a game, it’s the just the way it is. We’ve had success in scoring goals in the series fortunately but we’re not an offensive team we’re a defensive team and if we’re letting in that many goals we’re in a lot of trouble. We can’t let them score.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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GP – None of the players are above criticism. Or the coaches. Or management. Doesn’t matter what they did last year or regular season. Doesn’t matter if they are personable or they gave to charity. It only matters how they PERFORM… now. We (fans) are the shareholders and we expect them to perform, they were hired to perform, they are paid to perform.

sharkfreak17

Murray was definitely in fine “woe is me” form last night.

GP

Phred,

Good Call!

However, You completely are ignoring Alexi Semenov and Alexi’s grandmother. Maybe he and she can be blamed for the Kings NEXT 2 goals.

Nope, that analogy/example doesn’t fly. A car has no ultimate goal does it? A fuel line or the carborater(sp) don’t get paid different salaries do they.

Also, you don’t expect the headlights to do more than they were designed to do? You can never say they car didn’t go faster because there was tear in the back seat.

NickG

T: Yep. That’s the Isles announcing to the rest of the league that they are the worst team to play for out of all.

Phred

GP #102 — Don’t forget about all the goals that are Mike Rathje’s fault, because he should have tried to knock someone into next week instead of just trying to clutch and grab and play positionally (back when you could clutch and grab). And I think Alexander Korulyuk forgot to pick someone up in the defensive zone again and got burned for a goal last night too.

The great thing about a team game is that you can make some mistakes, but if your team does some good things too, you can still win. And, this time of year, the winning buys you more time to try to fix more mistakes going forward. The Sharks played pretty hard last night, scored six goals, got some great saves, and that more than covered some mistakes (Wallin pass, Vlasic tip, etc.). Nichol set up the first three goals (by getting the 4-on-4, and then the 5-on-4), so that’s some good mojo for the 4th line. And, while a lot of the stuff we’re doing defensively (or NOT doing) scares me, especially the way the Wings looked vs. PHX, I’d rather be 3-1 up and starting to worry about DET, as opposed to 3-1 down and starting to worry about tee times. If the Sharks can win tomorrow, I like their chances of fixing their game for DET better than I’d like LAK’s chances…

sammy

ZEKE!!! you funny mother $%#($%(

That was funny.

And yes, all the goals scored on us were Wallins fault. DUH

puckace

GP: We are in agreement on Wallin. He’s better than WTC gives him credit for. My post was more about calling LA’s first goal meaningless. That just wasn’t so.

Isles are bush league with Snow and Wang in charge. I hope Nabby enjoys his time at home. Whoever convinced him to sign that contract with Detroit should be fired. Too bad, I wanted to see how Nabby would do with another team.

sammy

I play better hockey then GP

GoaliePuke

puckace,

Yep, I guess the meaningless goal blurb, was to rile a little, but emphasize that the goal was meaningless at the result (which I neglected to explain).

Jumbo and then Pavs rendered both Kings goals on a mistake harmless in the 3rd.

GoaliePuke

sammy,

Thanks for giving me the chance to speak about this.

That may very well be. You may be better. While I am older and wiser than I use to be, I don’t think I am a great hockey player. I play within my limitations. My team mates don’t expect me to score 3 goals a game. (if they expect me to do more, than I’ll just give them the link to the WTC comment section.)

Still, other players tell me I’m a better hockey player than I think I am. If that is true, it’s because I understand the game a little. Also, I have played hockey with better athletes and some with better skills, but actually don’t know the game of hockey and while they might skate fast, they stink up the ice like spoiled cabbage.

GoaliePuke

Oh sammy,

That really should say:

I play better hockey thanM/b> GP.

Note the period at the end the sentence.

GoaliePuke

sorry…html formatting typo…trying again!

Oh sammy,

That really should say:

I play better hockey than GP.

Note the period at the end the sentence.

sammy

Dang it I always get those mixed up

Also, I don’t play hockey

GoaliePuke

sammy, thanks for owning up aye.

Sharks247

GoaliePuke @81 & Zeke @88 OMG you guys had me rolling.

This is the time of the year where I WILL read all 116+ posts….just for gems like those.

GSDI!

sammy

HA! I’m a team player brothah. See you on the next thread

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